Try Histerine

Warner Bros. cartoons made fun of pop culture for years (though, by the ‘50s, the gags were a little tired). This is from “A Gander at Mother Goose,” released in 1940. The big bad wolf is going through the usual scene when the pigs call a halt and hand him a bottle.

“Why don’t some of my best friends tell me these things?” shouts the wolf to himself, and glugs from the bottle as Carl Stalling plays “Little Brown Jug.”

The bottle of Histerine is a stand-in for Listerine, whose ad pitch reminded people even their best friends don’t tell them about bad breath. Other than the pre-Bugs Bunny eagle that says “Doc” and Jack Be Nimble sounding like a future wabbit, there sure isn’t much else to interest anyone in this cartoon. Even Sara Berner couldn’t be bothered to throw in a “Rally I am” in her Kate Hepburn impression as Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary. There’s a dog/tree gag and a bare butt gag for those of you keeping track of when Tex Avery used them.

Chuck McKimson gets the animation credit here but I suspect Irv Spence and Virgil Ross are in here, too.